FORMER England defender Danny Mills insisted yesterday that plans to limit the number of foreign players in English football are designed to encourage the development of home-grown talent, not prevent the world’s best players from plying their trade in the Premier League.

The Football Association’s stricter work permit rules, approved by the Home Office on Friday, will come into force on May 1 ahead and intend to reduce the number of non-EU players in the Premier League, who are seen as blocking English talent.

FA chairman Greg Dyke also wants to persuade the Premier League to drop the number of non-home-grown players allowed in a 25-man squad from 17 to 13 and to adjust the definition of “home-grown” so that players only qualify if they are registered for three years prior to turning 18, rather than 21.

The Premier League is understood to have serious reservations about both changes to the home grown players rule but Mills, a member of the FA commission created in 2013 to improve the fortunes of the national team, insists the rule changes will not stop the world’s best footballers from playing in England’s top flight.

“We don’t want to stop elite players coming over — the likes of (Dennis) Bergkamp, (Gianfranco) Zola, (Thierry) Henry,” he said. “We want as many top players in the Premier League as possible.

“What we don’t want is those non-EU players who filter down to the Championship and even League Two. No disrespect but they are not the elite and they are stifling home-grown talent.

“The emphasis is on the clubs to produce better home-grown players, to coach them better. It is too easy at the moment to dip into the foreign market and pick up a cheap foreign import.”

Dyke used Tottenham striker Harry Kane’s rise to prominence this season — he is currently the Premier League’s joint top scorer with 19 goals — as an example of the reward that can be enjoyed by clubs which choose to nurture British talent.

“We will go round (the clubs) and try to convince them. We will ask: ‘Are you sure you haven’t got a Harry Kane playing in your youth side?’,” Dyke said.

by Our Sports Desk

“It must help negotiations mustn’t it? Suddenly an English kid who was out on loan at four different places, who was touch and go to get a game in the first team, is suddenly the top scorer in English football.

“It’s great news. How many more Harry Kanes are there out there, who just can’t get a game?”